My friend Jill went on vacation to the Caribbean and may have stumbled on the new trend, swimming with the pigs.  Up until now I've only heard people talk about being thrilled to have been able to swim with the dolphins.  Many do it so they can cross it off their bucket list.  I LOVE pigs, so I have now placed swimming with them on my bucket list.  However, Jill didn't have the best experience and it's something I need to keep in mind and you should know.

First of all, you're probably asking how in the world did pigs got on an island in the first place.  I've heard a couple of different stories, one where the pigs were being transported by ship when it started to sink, the crew released the pigs to try to save themselves and the pigs ended up swimming to Pig Island.  The other story which came from a Naval Historian was that the pigs were left by the Spanish or Portuguese.  Both stories seem legit to me, I'm waiting to find out for sure when I go to swim with them myself.

On to the part of Jill's experience that makes me a tad bit leery.  They flew into Staniel Cay and took a small charter boat to pig island noting that there were several other little charters like theirs.  Pig Island is only a half mile ride so it didn't take long.  She said that the pigs just sort of wander around and on the day of their visit most were on the beach.  Their guide said that sometime they will swim out to meet the boats, but there were probably too many on the day she was there.  Many of the captains of the boats will bring food to lure them to the tourists on their boat and her captain had brought bread.

As you can see by the picture above Jill interacted with the pigs on land and laid down to get some sun.  Just after the photo was taken the pig bit her on the right arm.  She was shocked because she wasn't expecting it and yes, it drew blood.  She said it wasn't a mean bite, she just thinks the pig possibly smelled the coconut smelling tanning lotion she was using and it may have smelled like food.  A lot went through her mind immediately after, did it have rabies, should she go in for antibiotics, did they even have a hospital or clinic on the island?

As it turned out, she was brought to a nurses station by her captain, cleaned up and given antibiotics by a "professional".  What do you think it would cost to go to the ER and get that service in America?  There it only cost her $50, cash.  She did call to see if she needed rabies shots when she got back to Duluth, but they told her they didn't "think" so and she's still upright and taking nourishment so they must have been right.

Jennifer Miller
Jennifer Miller
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I'm a gambling girl, I still want to go swim with the pigs, I just won't use any suntan lotion that may resemble food (especially bacon, that would be down right mean) and I'll be cautious.  Apparently Jill isn't deterred either, she wants to go back and bring her husband, Jon.  Which would you prefer, swim with the dolphins or swim with the pigs?  Dang their cute!

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